Year Three
by Aviantei
Summary: Ivy Matrons experience at Hogwarts was typical... And then Year Three happened. MalfoyxOC, first of five parts
1. Prologue

Um, hi. I really had no intentions of posting this so early, but I typed it, so it's up. This is my Harry Potter story. Deal with it. Hopefully you enjoy. More stuff will be up later. Um, please review if you want to. And yea, it's a prolouge, that's why it's for Year One. Continue...

**Year Three**

**Prologue**

**Year One: Because Knowing Who You're Stuck With Makes Things Worse, Take The Easy Way Out And Act Like You Don't Notice Them **

I had finally come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which, unlike my fellow first years, hadn't particularly been a source of excitement for me. True, I wanted to be a witch, if only because magic was what I had, but I wasn't the type to get overexcited because the chance was finally happening. In fact, I only appreciated being here because it was a relief from the boredom that came from being stuck in a house all day.

I was an extremely odd eleven-year-old.

Even the Sorting that was taking place at the moment wasn't enough to make me excited. After all, it was inevitable where I would end up. My family was pureblooded and proud of it (though not at the level other wizarding families took it), which pretty much handed me to Slytherin. There was also the added point that both my parents had been in Slytherin, making the choice even more obvious. Whether or not my placing into the house was a good thing or not, I really didn't know, or particularly care. I just hoped that they would get to the M's soon so I could sit down and eat.

I listened in to the witch, who had previously introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, reading off names, to see what point of the alphabet we had hit. Luckily for me, it was close to my own. Unfortunately for me, it was someone I recognized.

"Malfoy, Draco."

I internally winced. I had met him a long time ago, when we were kids, simply because our parents were acquainted with each other. Though I did have a pleasant memory of shoving the guy into a pond on my family's estate, I remembered the only reason I had done so was because I had found the six-year-old to be a pompous brat. From the smirk on his face, I figured that not much had changed since then. Nevertheless, I watched to see the Sorting with its result that would be just as obvious as mine.

"Slytherin!" the hat bellowed across the hall. Despite barely toughing his head, part of Draco's hair had gone out of place and I stifled a smirk of my own. He really hadn't changed physically much, either. Same silver-blond hair and silver-gray eyes. I shook my head and decided against following him as he walked to the Slytherin table.

"Matrons, Ivrena," McGonagall called, making me wince at my full first name. I hated when people called me that. Even my parents didn't call me that. If anybody here did so, I would find the nastiest curse I could control at my level and unleash it on them.

I walked up to the stool where the hat was, not particularly caring that all eyes were on me. I lightly sat down, and waited for what was going to come.

"Slytherin!" the hat quickly called again, though not as immediate as it had been with Draco. I took the hat off and headed down to my assigned table.

Part of me toyed with the idea of going down and sitting by him, just to see how he reacted to me. I knew it would throw off whatever cool act he was trying to go on, especially bringing up the pond part, but decided against it. After all, if I messed with him now, that would probably just cause him to try to get revenge against me, and I just wasn't up for that. Instead, I opted out for sitting next to an extremely happy girl (don't know why I did it, I normally don't like those types of people) with long dark blue hair. She seemed to have cleared a large amount of space around her for some reason, making taking a spot easy.

My years at Hogwarts would not turn out anywhere near what I had expected.


	2. Chapter 1

Alrighty, here's the ACTUAL explanation as to what this fanfic is all about. Back in July over my excitement of having a laptop and the upcoming Half-Blood Prince movie (favorite book in series, hands down), I started to think and type up some of a Harry Potter story with random bits from random years. Unfortunately, all the material had been put on a flash drive, which I ended up loosing (I'm full of flash drive fail, don't know why I own them in the first place). A few days ago, I FINALLY got to see the movie (no fight scene at the end, what the hell?) which put me back into the HP spirit. I figured it was time to pick upthe ball again and actually start the story from the beginning.

Ivy is my charcter and Marika is the character that my friend ended up created while we were discussing the series. Due to Marika's background, there will be some slight refrences to an anime/manga series known as D. Gray-man. If you're familiar with the series, you'll get the few jokes I toss in. If not, it really shouldn't affect your experience.

For the record, Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, and D. Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura. I love them both and use their works wth the utmost respect. Enjoy.

**Year Three**

**Chapter One**

**Year Three: Being Able To Stand Up To Whine-Asses Is One Thing; Accepting The Fact That You Did It Against Your Own Will In Public Is Another**

My years at Hogwarts were fairly typical: I went to classes, I studied for tests, and I hung out with my friend (the girl I had met shortly after my Sorting. But more on her later), and antagonized my fellow classmates (mainly Slytherins, which was the sad part). It's not to say my existence was boring, I really don't think anyone could have a boring time at Hogwarts, but more that it was something that any student could experience.

Unlike it probably would have done to most people, this didn't depress me. I was perfectly fine with my mediocre existence, simply because it pretty much left me to my own devices. Even at home, I was becoming more and more self sufficient, which slightly concerned my mother. I never understood why, seeing as I had always been very independent, and that I was now thirteen, but at least being at Hogwarts meant that I could fend for myself without my mother worrying that I was becoming a "rebellious teenager."

And as for Draco? I barely associated with him, but since we were in the same house, I was still stuck in every class with the boy. My lack of communication stemmed from not too far into first year as I watched that he pompously strutted around the halls and insulted anyone he could sink his fangs into. His favorite targets had been, and still were, Harry Potter and friends. However, if I looked at like Draco would, I partially saw the reasoning, but there was still the basic fact, that in my opinion, Draco Malfoy was an idiot.

This theory was one that was easily proven, but my favorite example had to be our very first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. This was a class that had recently been taken over by the Hogwarts groundskeeper, Hagrid, as well as one which we shared with the Gryffindors (both of which Draco obviously had a lot to say about, but I'll spare you). And no, I'm not talking about those stupid _Monster Book of Monsters _text, though that _was _funny. Don't forget kiddies: stroke the side.

No, I'm discussing the wonderful incident with a particular hippogriff by the name of Buckbeak. Now, for those of you that don't know, a hippogriff is a creature with a giant eagle's head and the body of a horse, and pride so deep that if you insult them, it's pretty much game over.

This is where we get further into the fact that Draco is an idiot. Hagrid had _clearly_ told us all that, and very blatantly, too. If there's one thing you gotta admire, it's that Hagrid really doesn't mince words. And I'm not trying to make my point by saying Draco simply doesn't listen, because the only teachers he ever really listens to are Snape and McGonagall when she gets strict. Even I don't listen to all my teachers all the time. However, my point lies in the fact that he was doing something that he very well knew could result in severe injury.

To put it simply, Draco insulted Buckbeak, which resulted in a particularly nasty (and satisfying, not to mention well-deserved) gash across the brat's arm.

"Fucking idiot," I muttered, resisting my urge to smile.

Marika Kanda, my friend ever since I had sat down beside her, and a girl with an affinity for purposely blowing up potions, wasn't as suppressive of her emotions as I was. In fact, she had a big grin on her face. "Whoo! Go, Buckbeack!" she cheered, resulting in some nasty glares from our fellow Slytherins, particularly Pansy Parkinson, a Malfoy fan girl who seriously needed to go die. I finally let my smile form as Hagrid carried Malfoy up to the castle to have his wound tended to by the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey.

"Come on, Marika, let's go get some dinner."

--

Due to his ever-growing need to draw attention to himself, Draco didn't "grace" us with his presence until halfway through Thursday's double Potions class. Of course, by this point, Marika had already succeeded in blowing up one of her potions, and was trying to figure out exactly which ingredients had caused it do so. Snape was okay with this because he favored all of us Slytherins, which also was why he let Draco get away with being late.

Draco expertly used this fact to his advantage and spent the entire class making Weasley do his dirty work. I instead decided to concentrate on my Shrinking Solution.

Of course, that wasn't the last we would hear of Draco's arm. Later on, he would use it to get out of playing his usual role as the Slytherin Seeker in Quidditch. Nevertheless, Draco enjoyed putting on a show, and would tell stories and spout of nonsense while eating, while going to class, and while I was trying to do my homework in the Slytherin's underground common room.

I won't go into all the shit Malfoy was able to spew off, but the simple fact was that it was annoying, and after accidentally starting to write down what he was (loudly) saying, I was becoming much more irritated than I had previously been. With all of these factors working against me, I gave my Charms essay up for broke. Marika, who had only been sitting with me for the odd conversation topic, raised an eyebrow at my a typical surender. For a girl who skipped most of her classes in favor of haunting Snape's dungeon to continue her experiments in exploding potions and setting loose the weasel in the Transfiguration room and following it about the school, she surprisingly was able to somehow finish all her homework without my knowledge.

I had stood up with every intention of shoving my books away and heading down to the Great Hall for dinner, and Marika was poised to follow, but my mouth had other plans.

"My god, you're such a whine-ass!" I exclaimed. "Shut the hell up!"

In case you didn't know, Draco had built up quite a following amongst the Slytherins by this year, resulting in multiple stares and whispers in my general direction. Even if they weren't under the command of the so-called "prince," the higher year students weren't used to people sticking up to him. Even I wasn't used to it. Sure, I had my usual thoughts and small comments to Marika, but mostly kept silent out of my desire for lack of trouble.

So why had I just done that?

Still standing and looking nowhere near as shocked as the others, Marika clapped a few times. "Way to go, Ivy-chan," the Japanese girl commented. "For speaking your mind, I award you the Lavi badge." She then shoved a bunny-shaped pin in my face before proceeding to go on a rant about the other types of badges she could reward me, depending on my next action.

I ignored her and stared at Draco's confused expression. I was just as shocked as he was. I surveyed the group he had been talking to. Crabbe and Goyle, his lackeys, looked dumber than usual, if that was even possible, and Pansy was giving me a stare of murderous rage. I wondered when she would try to insult me and just how nasty it would be.

"…All this talk about badges has made me hungry," Marika mused by some odd logic that had probably been brought up in her rant. "Let's go get dinner." I was pulled from the common room.

It wasn't until much later until I learned that Draco was the exact thing I had been at that moment.

_What the hell just happened?_


	3. Chapter 2

Okay, last night was a good night for me, so two chapters, un! In all honesty, there's not too much that happens in year three, so I don't know how long this one will take. I'll have to re-read through the book to see what else I'll have to add. Not much else to say about this chapter, so enjoy!

**Year Three**

**Chapter Two**

**Year Three: The Things You Don't Want To Do Always Result In Things You Don't Want To Happen, But Fate Hates You, So There's Really No Escape**

It was rather obvious that I wasn't going to be a welcome sight in the Slytherin vicinity for a while, so I kind of gave up on that one straight off. Fortunately for me, the next day was Saturday, so I took off after breakfast to my favorite spot on the grounds: leaning against a tree that was close to the lake. Marika knew when I wanted to be alone, so she was probably following the weasel. It wasn't that far into autumn, so the weather was pretty decent, and I was able to let my mind wander amongst different topics: the fact that I had actually stood up to Draco Malfoy, when I was going to finish my Charms essay, the other small amounts of homework that had to be done, Draco Malfoy…

I automatically twitched. Why was I still thinking about that? It was done, it was over, and I had come out here to get _away_ from the fact that a large faction of my house wanted to kill me. I stared out into the lake, hoping to get a glimpse of the giant squid. Unfortunately, my search didn't last long.

"So this really is where you ran away to," a cold, all-too-familiar voice remarked, setting off my twitch reflexes again. "I thought that Kanda girl was just kidding me."

Of course, it had been Marika. For some reason she had it in her head that Draco and I would make a "sweet" couple. Even though I had told her never to bring up such a vile and disgusting topic again, I knew she still thought it. There were some particularly nasty things in her future.

"Fuck off, Draco," I stated, giving a futile attempt at trying to continue my panning across the lake's surface without having to look at him. From my peripheral vision, I could see that he wasn't walking away, like my response obviously stated that I wanted him to. I decided to throw him a very fierce glare, with accompanying banter. "Don't you have some little Hufflepuff first years to be picking on? I'm pretty sure there're a few students whose souls you haven't crushed yet. On the other hand, maybe you just rip them out, and Pansy eats them alive. Which one is it?"

It seemed Draco had been expecting something similar to that, judging by the bored expression on his face. "Are you done now?" he asked, almost as if he was waiting for me to lose my steam. I wondered exactly what the hell he was aiming at, but didn't ask, seeing as that would pretty much be inviting him into a conversation.

"Now, now, Draco, that doesn't answer my question." If I had to put up with him, I was at least going to make him regret sticking around.

"You stood up to me," Draco stated, not fully looking at me. I rolled my eyes, letting him mentally fill in the "no shit" comment that would be inserted there. I stood up, walked over to the lake's edge, grabbed a stone and chunked it across the water, making it skip. "Matrons, I'm not trying to start a fight here."

I mocked disappointment (okay, not all of it was mocked). "Too bad, Draco, I was looking forward to it. If that's not why you're here, then why the hell are you wasting my time?" I pitched another rock across the lake, this one making it farther before it decided to sink, too.

"You stood up to me."

"You already said that, Draco."

"I admire that."

I will be honest; I was completely and utterly shocked by this revelation. In fact, I was trying to throw another rock when he said this, which obviously was doomed to fail, and almost lost my balance. Much to my chagrin, if Draco hadn't caught me by the arm, I probably would've fallen into the lake.

As soon as was able to stand on my own again, I wrenched my arm from Draco's grasp. I resumed my former glare. "You 'admire' that?" I incredulously asked. "Since when do you admire anything other than yourself or your ego?"

"Have you been listening to this conversation at all?"

"Yeah, and so far, I don't believe a word of it."

"I'm being honest, Ivrena," Draco muttered, his tone actually convincing. However, I was too angry to pay attention to, let alone care about, that. Over the past few years, no one had really taken a shot at my full name except for Marika when she was acting as my mother, and that was only every now and then.

"I thought you said you weren't trying to start a fight here, Draco," I growled, resuming pitching stones to skip across the water. For some reason, it was kind of helping out with the whole anger issue.

"You never did like being called that, did you?" Draco mused. I questioningly raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you forgot about when we were kids? It was one time, but I didn't think your memory was that bad."

I smirked. "You know, Draco, I seem to remember something about shoving a particular annoying and bratty kid into a pond one time," I teasingly remarked. "And there _is_ a lake in the vicinity…" Surprisingly, Draco laughed. I was about to laugh myself when I realized I was falling into both a carefully lain trap by Marika and whatever plan the little bigot was up to. And we're back to the twitching muscles…

"Is something wrong?" I pitched the rock that I had been holding in my hand for a little while. What in the world could he want so badly that he was willing to fake concern for me to get it?

"What the hell do you want, Draco?" My tone was extremely exasperated; I just wanted him gone so I go back to sulking-err, sitting under my tree.

For a second it almost seemed as though he was hurt, but that was impossible. I dismissed it as his transition into disappointment that I wasn't falling for it, whatever it happened to be. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

I paused for a few moments, still wondering exactly what he was getting at. Unfortunately, it seemed like he had no intention of telling me that, so I let it go for the time being. Instead, I moved closer to him and smoothed out my voice.

"Draco?"

"Yeah?" I could hear the anticipation in his tone. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Get bent and die," I forcibly stated.

I stalked off to go eat my lunch, leaving "Mr. Perfect" behind.


	4. Chapter 3

And I thought up another chapter while whating GOF for the millionth time (Draco getting turned into a ferret never gets old). I had fun with this chapter, I really did. I also make a tribute to the wonder that is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (which belongs to iromu Arakawa). If you don't catch it, that's fine, I only put it there for the sheer enjoyment of it. I actually have a decent amount of hits for this already, which makes me happy. Extra thanks to December22 for reviewing, which makes me even happier! So, anyway, on with the show!

**Year Three**

**Chapter Three**

**Year Three: Even Though What You've Done Means Something Shouldn't Happen, When It Does, You Can't Help But Be Suspicious**

"_Marika Kanda!_"

I screamed, no "practically" about it, my best friend's name as soon as I entered the Great Hall. It rather went without saying that this act turned quite a few heads in my direction, but in all honesty, I didn't give a perpetual damn. Even if I was going to take this calmly, my entrance wouldn't have gone without _some _notice due to my newly acquired hatred from my house. Besides, I was getting into the habit of angrily shouting my thoughts lately, was I not? I stormed over to where the target of my outburst was sitting.

"Ivrena Matrons," Marika calmly greeted, smiling. My hand twitched for my wand, but I resisted the urge. She was at least going to get an earful before I hexed her into an otherwise discernable pulp splattered upon the wall.

"You know how I have my spot where I like to go to get the hell away from everyone that no one else knows about?" I posed, standing over the Japanese girl. I was taller than she was anyway, but since she remained sitting, the difference was all the more obvious.

"Oh, you mean the tree by the lake?" Marika expertly feigned ignorance.

"Yeah, and I was just wondering that if no one knows I go there, why Draco Malfoy just _happened_ to show up, expecting to see me." Sarcasm had always been my best language, and it dripped off of every single word with practiced ease.

"Draco showed up?" Marika continued her act, smiling sweetly. "How'd that conversation go?"

"Marika, why in the world did you do that to me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ivy-chan. I spent an extremely productive morning following the weasel."

I twitched, clenching my fist, which just brought my long nails into my palm. No, I couldn't hex her yet. I was nowhere near finished giving her the hell she so rightfully deserved. "Funny you should say that, because Draco happened to mention that _you_ were the one that told him where I was," I countered.

"Did he now?" Marika looked thoughtful. "I'll have to sit by him next time in Potions…" she muttered before changing the subject. "Come on, Ivy-chan, was it really so bad? You can't say you didn't enjoy getting some alone time with Draco."

That was the problem: I _couldn't_ say that I hadn't enjoyed my short amount of time with Draco. In fact, I had actually been getting involved in the conversation, and he had actually seemed… I don't know, _human_ for once. Completely and utterly different from his usual snob manner. Sure, it had all been an act, but it was still the most confusing thing I had experienced at Hogwarts, and I had even taken Divination this year. Man, Trelawney was a psycho.

"And… Time for a standard Ivy Matrons rebuttal is now up," Marika declared, staring at her wrist, even though she didn't wear a watch. "The jury comes to the conclusion that she enjoyed Draco's presence, and should now sit down and eat some lunch. Come on, Ivy-chan, there's turkey…"

I sat down with much more force than necessary, glaring at my plate before succumbing to the smells of the food. Being pissed off at both Draco and Marika in one morning had made me extremely hungry. I angrily stabbed a piece of broccoli (I like vegetables, so sue me) and shoved it into my mouth. I chewed and swallowed before noting that something was off.

I glanced around the table, and figured out what it was. Unlike at breakfast, where the Slytherin table had been dead silent, seeing as everyone had taken to oozing animosity in my direction or just flat-out ignoring me, it was now normal. People were talking amongst each other, and, now that I was done yelling at Marika, had no reason to take notice of me whatsoever. I craned my neck to look farther down the table. Not even Pansy Parkinson was shooting me her typical death glare, though it most certainly looked like she wanted to.

"Marika, what was that Muggle thing you mentioned where everything is weird and creepy?" I asked, taking a big drink of the pumpkin juice I had just poured myself. It kind of helped me relax, but I sure as hell could've used something more potent.

"You mean 'The Twilight Zone'?" Marika supplied, sipping at her own drink.

"Well, I feel like I'm in it." I took another large swig, draining my cup. I quickly refilled the glass. "No one's pissed off at me anymore; it makes no sense."

"Nah, the Twilight Zone has clocks. Besides, isn't it obvious what's going on here?"

"No, but I'm sure it is to you."

"Well… They got mad 'cause you stood up to Draco, ne?" Marika explained. I nodded in response. "So who's the only person who could make them quit?"

I was pretty sure my eyes had widened at that: _Draco_ had told them to stop? The little brat must've wanted whatever it was _exceptionally _badly if he was willing to go this far to get it. I felt a fresh surge of anger and sudden loss of appetite. Gripping my butter knife exceptionally hard, I stabbed it into the piece of turkey I had obtained, picturing his head. It was quite satisfying.

"Ivy-chan, you're acting violent again…" Marika warned, though she actually seemed happy of the concept. I was probably reminding her of someone from back home. In fact, it was almost as if this behavior was expected of me. I shoved the idea away and tried to calm myself down. The best way I thought to do so was draining my goblet again, putting it back down with more force than necessary. I sighed and stood up.

"Marika, I'm heading back out," I informed. "Send anyone after me and don't expect to see them alive again."

"Yes, ma'am!" Marika gave me a small salute as a wave.

As I exited the Great Hall, I passed Draco. I didn't actually _look _at him, since attention was obviously what he wanted, but I gave a small nod that acknowledged his existence that could've been easily dismissed as a subconscious movement of walking.

I almost hoped he would follow me; the Giant Squid had to be bored of eating only the inhabitants of the Black Lake by now.


	5. Chapter 4

Hi folks. Back again. Man, I'm sick of all the snow already... Anyway! I looked over everything for this book and decided that this was really the last big thing that needed to be mentioned. After this, I'll have a closing chapter and then move on to Year Four, where the fun really starts (So glad how that first chapter came out...). Um, I normally go with the books, but let's just say Hermione punched Malfoy in the book instead of slapped him, mmkay? Cause that just works out so much better... Oh and thanks to Sololight and Satanica-Demon of Pride for reviews... Enjoy!

**Year Three**

**Chapter Four**

**Year Three: The Passage Of Time Definitely Doesn't Mean It's Over, And When Things Start Up Again, Your Best Choice Is Violence, No Matter How Stupid That May Seem**

For whatever reason, Draco gave his plan up for broke and didn't bug me at all for the better part of the year. I was definitely grateful for this, seeing as it gave me more time to focus on my studies. However, Marika became disappointed, and was constantly bugging me to have some interaction with him, which I blatantly refused at every turn. It was always when I thought she would leave me alone that the topic would resurface, only for me to shoot it down in the same manner as usual.

Then, in late April, right before the Easter holidays, events decided to shove themselves on me again. Since I knew the break would most likely be filled to the brim with homework, I had decided to partake in spending some time under my tree while I still could. The weather was nice, and I was enjoying myself thoroughly until he showed up.

It was an extremely awkward moment. Draco obviously didn't know what to do, since sitting down beside me would most likely result in some physical injury, but standing was much more nerve racking than anything else. The fact that I was once again refusing to look at him probably heightened that factor. He eventually decided to clear his throat.

"Matrons," Draco supplied as his greeting.

"Draco," I coldly responded, finally deciding to look at him, noting that he had a bruise on his left eye. I stifled my urge to smirk. "I assume whatever you did was fully deserving of that black eye."

A small tinge of pink formed on Draco's cheeks, but he kept the rest of his composure intact. "Granger's going to pay for that," he stated before muttering a few insults under his breath. I rolled my eyes and waited for him to refocus, which didn't take as long as I thought it would. "That's not the point, Matrons. The point is that I need to try something."

I raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be focusing on Quidditch?" My question was concerning the quickly approaching match between Gryffindor and Slytherin that would determine the winner of the Quidditch Cup. "And what the hell does this have to do with me? Can't you try whatever it is on Crabbe or Goyle?"

Draco winced at my suggestion. "No, it has to be you," he said. "_Definitely_ has to be you. As for your first question, I won't be able to focus unless I know how this goes." He had at least learned from our previous conversation that I didn't like leaving points unanswered.

I sighed and stood up to lean against my tree, an abnormal feeling of unease blossoming in my stomach. "Okay, since your life is so much more important than mine, care to tell me what this thing is?" I asked. The sooner this was over with, the sooner I could go back to relaxing.

"Actually, I think this is just best done," Draco muttered, looking at the ground instead of me. Wait a minute, the little brat was _nervous_? That couldn't be right; there was just no way…

"Draco, there is nothing you can do to me that will change my opinion of you, seeing that it's pretty damn low as is. So just say it, do it, or leave it so I can go back to ignoring your existence." That seemed like a pretty sound plan to me. It finally occurred to me in the back of my head that Marika could've had something to do with this, but I really didn't give a damn.

"You said it…" he muttered, like that made a difference. In any event, my words seemed to bolster his confidence since he came closer to me. I suddenly began to regret my sentence, and with good reason, too. His arms on either side of me, I was successfully pinned up against my tree.

_Well, fuck,_ I thought, just before Draco pressed his lips against mine.

When it was done, I felt a particularly strong wave of anger unlike anything I had experienced. Part of me wanted to punch him in the nose, but I didn't want to explain (and by that, I mean lie about) the resulting blood to Marika when I returned to the common room later that night. However, causing him pain seemed like a really good idea. Now I just had to figure out how…

I pulled back my left arm the best I could with the tree behind me and gave Draco a second black eye to accompany the first. He staggered back, and I felt extremely pleased with my handiwork.

"Damn, Ivy, I didn't know you could do that," he said in awe. "So you're still not going believe me if I tell you…"

_Tell me what?_ I glared as opposed to asking my mental question. Still seething with anger, I did my best not to punch him again, no matter how satisfying it would have been. "You, Draco Malfoy, are the most infuriating person I have ever had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting in my entire life," I stated. "Now, unless you want additional injuries to be caused to the Slytherin Seeker, I suggest you get the hell away from here. I'm in a particularly nasty mood right now, thanks to you."

Draco looked at me for a few moments before actually deciding to return to the castle. I watched, wand at the ready while thinking up some jinxes I could use if he decided to turn back. When he was safely out of sight, I stowed my wand back in my robes and picked up a rock off the ground. I stalked over to the lake's edge, bypassed the entire concept of _skipping_ the stone, chunked it out into the water with all the force I could muster, waited until I heard the _splash_, and stormed back to under my tree where I would seethe for the remaining hours of the day.


	6. Chapter 5

So, yea, apologies with how long this took. The last quarter almost killed me and I lost track of all my fics, even ones I'm not posting at the moment. During my break week, I tried to develop a system for updating stuff during this quarter, so hopefully it goes well. I know this one's rather short, but it's more of an epilogue of sorts. I should be able to post the first chapter of Year Four next week. Thanks for reading and enjoy.

**Year Three**

**Chapter Five**

**Year Three: Though It's Nice to Have Real People In Most Situations, Chocolate Works, Too**

I considered myself extremely lucky that after Easter break I only had to be in school for one more month. All exams were over at the beginning of June, leaving no obligation to attend classes. I happily spent the remainder of the year under my tree, still wanting that excuse to feed Draco to the Giant Squid. I was disappointed for the lack of opportunity, not to mention surprised.

Even more surprising was that Marika didn't press the issue. Every now and then she did give me a look that plainly said "Exactly _why_ aren't you spending time with Draco?" That look partially scared me, since it hinted that she knew what had gone on, but I told myself there was no way. I had even checked with Snape after that day, and she had thankfully been blowing potions.

The arrival of summer didn't come fast enough for me, and I actually boarded the Hogwarts Express happily. After having Marika bug me essentially every waking moment, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to actually be bugged about something else. My mother's worries and father's attempts to convey what his wife was trying to say would be welcome.

On the train ride back the two of us were fortunate enough to get a compartment to ourselves. Okay, so Marika scared most people and I was willing to curse anyone else who even tried to come in, but it was still luck that we ended up not having to do much of either. However, there still was one problem…

"Ivy-chan, why aren't you sitting with Draco?"

"There are a number of reasons, Marika."

"Like what?"

"One: I don't like him."

"Yes you do." I winced at the retaliation, but continued on.

"Two: Who wants to be crammed in a compartment with Crabbe and Goyle?"

"I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to move for you."

I raised my voice, pretending I couldn't hear. "_Three: _That cow Pansy's probably going to be there…"

"Just curse her."

Marika and I looked at each other across the compartment for a long time. To be more specific, I was glaring and she was giving this sickeningly sweet smile that belonged to a five-year-old. I was trying to find a point to counter hers when the door opened. It was the usual trolley of snacks pushed along by a witch. Marika excitedly stared at the sweets before proceeding to buy as much as she could. If you ever needed the expression 'kid in a candy store,' it was now. Well, kid with a candy cart…

I watched as Marika filled the compartment with more food than any normal human being could possibly eat, picking out some of the things I wanted along the way. When she was done, the cart seemed to be almost empty. If Marika was good for anything, it was business. She paid and thanked the witch before settling down amongst her sweets. She picked up one of the Chocolate Frogs I was eyeing and tossed it to me.

I caught it and began to undo the wrapping before speaking. "Marika?"

"Yes, Ivy?" she replied, leaning and trying to see what card I got. I handed it over as soon as she gave me the puppy dog eyes; apparently it was one she didn't have.

"On our earlier topic… No chance in hell."

And then I bit off the frog's head.

--

_Three years down, four to go…_

--

I was looking forward to a nice, quiet summer.

--

Now if only I could ever be so lucky.

**End of Year Three**


End file.
